Plot Points
The plot point that traditionally appears at the end of Act I that sets the protagonist's central journey in motion.
What is an inciting incident?
A short (30-second) oral presentation presenting the major characters, the central journey, and the setting to a potential director, producer, or investor.
What is a pitch?
Surgeons was the original title of this original TV series created by Shonda Rhimes.
What is Grey's Anatomy?
The most dramatic moment in a narrative. It traditionally appears at the end of Act II/beginning of Act III
What is the climax?
A document written in prose form, typically ranging from one to ten pages, outlining the overarching structure of a feature film.
What is a film treatment?
Mike Flanagan's 2018 horror TV show on Netflix.
What is The Haunting of Hill House?
According to Ken Miyamoto: "a moment when characters face higher stakes, significant changes, greater challenges, or story-altering revelations that propel the story into a new direction." Also called the height of complication or height of crisis by Christopher Vogler.
What is the midpoint?
Linda Aronson created this term to describe how someone might brainstorm the idea for a screenplay using a traditional, linear, arborescent structure.
What is vertical thinking?
Stanley Kubrick's treatment for this 1980 horror film is notoriously long.
What is The Shining?
French for "unraveling." This plot point traditionally takes place right after the climax.
What is the denouement?
Linda Aronson created this term to describe how someone might brainstorm the idea for a screenplay using a nonlinear, rhizomatic, associative structure.
What is lateral thinking?
We read "the meet cute" scene from this 1994 adaptation of a Stephen King short story to better understand effective dialogue differentiation and beats.
What is The Shawshank Redemption?
A moment in which an emotional shift takes place. Not a pause in the script.
What is a beat?
Erik Bork's seven elements of a viable story idea. Referred to using the acronym PROBLEM.
What are Punishing, Relatable, Original, Believable, Life-Altering, Entertaining, and Meaningful?
Award-winning 2019 film by South Korean director Bong Joon Ho with a classic example of an effective midpoint.
What is Parasite?